15 Small Entryways That Make A Striking First Impression
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Veranda has published a roundup of 15 small entryways, showing how designers use wallpaper, color, lighting, art and architectural details to shape the experience of arriving at a home. The examples range from a striped ceiling in a San Francisco Craftsman to chinoiserie panels in a Dallas penthouse; the report is an inspiration feature, not a study of measured design outcomes.

Veranda has published a roundup of 15 small entryways that use color, pattern, art and carefully chosen furnishings to introduce the homes beyond them. The examples, described by the magazine as ways to make a striking first impression, include a mural-filled Palm Beach cabana, a patterned Manhattan foyer and a narrow Park Avenue hall with geometric details.

The homes featured span different eras and settings, from a 1930 Nashville house and a late-17th- and early-18th-century manor in Wiltshire to apartments in Manhattan and a coastal Maine Colonial Revival. Veranda’s report presents each entry as part of a broader decorating scheme rather than as a standalone formula for making a small space feel larger.

Several designers use wall treatments as the defining feature. Richard Hallberg paired Japanese rice-paper wallcovering with a traditional Italian console in Nashville. In Dallas, Cathy Kincaid set vivid 19th-century chinoiserie panels against green lacquered walls and French limestone floors. For a Park Avenue apartment, Nick Olsen used strips of marbleized paper and painted lines to create faux paneling, alongside a royal-blue leather-clad door and geometric flooring.

Other examples make use of the ceiling, floor or a limited palette. Marea Clark covered a San Francisco Craftsman entry ceiling in striped wallpaper, which she said added “a bit of whimsy.” In a prewar Manhattan apartment, Chiqui Woolworth combined an ebony diamond-patterned floor with banana-yellow walls and a silver ceiling. The report also features greenery in Kate Rheinstein Brodsky’s Manhattan entry and a hand-painted mural of South Florida plants and animals in a small Palm Beach entrance pavilion.

At a glance
reportWhen: Published date not stated in the suppli…
The developmentVeranda published a collection of 15 small entryway designs, with examples from homes and apartments across the United States.

How Small Foyers Set a Home’s Tone

An entryway is a small part of a home, but it is often the first interior space visitors see. The projects in Veranda’s roundup show designers treating that limited area as an introduction to the rooms beyond it, using a distinctive material or motif to establish a visual direction.

That approach can be useful to readers planning a renovation or refresh because it draws attention to surfaces and details—wallpaper, paint, flooring, lighting and a single piece of furniture—rather than relying on a large footprint. The examples are individual design projects, however; the report does not establish that any particular choice improves function, increases home value or suits every narrow entry.

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Design Choices Across 15 Entrances

The roundup gathers residential projects with different architectural histories and design styles. In Nashville, Hallberg’s modern wallcovering contrasts with an ornate 18th-century console. At a Lake Michigan inn transformed by Summer Thornton, pattern in the entry offers a preview of the stronger colors and prints elsewhere in the property, while an early-19th-century Swedish clock gives visitors a point of focus.

Color is another recurring choice. Markham Roberts used citrine, teal and blue in the foyer of a Martha’s Vineyard summer house; in the entry of Garrow Kedigian’s Carlyle apartment, glossy cobalt and a hand-painted gold border introduce a colorful interior scheme. The source also describes a Wiltshire manor’s silver chinoiserie wallpaper, alongside furniture made for the homeowner’s grandmother’s Oxfordshire estate.

Some designs work through contrast, others through continuity with the home. At Grey Gardens, a restored 1901 East Hampton estate, cerulean animal-print wallpaper sits alongside a restored banister, railing and original Dutch door. Jonathan Adler, who worked on the project with Liz Lange, described the foyer as an introduction that should “sum up what’s to come.”

“The striped ceiling wallpaper introduces “a bit of whimsy.””

— Marea Clark, designer

What the Design Roundup Does Not Measure

The supplied report is a visual design roundup, not a survey, product test or evaluation of renovation costs. It does not provide measurements for the entryways, explain how much storage or traffic each space must handle, or compare the projects’ budgets. The descriptions also do not establish which ideas are practical for renters, homes with children or high-traffic entrances.

The source material does not state when the article was published. It also does not provide a single design rule that applies across all 15 examples: the featured spaces differ in architecture, size, use and the furnishings available to their designers.

Applying the Ideas at Home

The report does not announce a follow-up project or a next publication date. Readers considering similar changes can use the examples as references, then adapt them to their own entry’s dimensions, light and daily needs. A useful next step is to decide whether the priority is a focal point, easier storage, a brighter feel or a visual link to adjoining rooms.

Before choosing a patterned wallcovering, saturated paint or statement floor, homeowners can check how it works with existing doors, flooring and circulation. The roundup’s varied projects suggest several options—wall treatment, a ceiling detail, a mirror or artwork, a distinctive table, or greenery—but offer no promise that one choice will suit every space.

Key Questions

What is the report about?

Veranda’s article presents 15 small entryways from residential projects and describes the design elements used to shape each entrance.

What design ideas appear in the examples?

The roundup features patterned wallpaper, lacquered walls, vivid paint, geometric flooring, striped ceilings, murals, art and greenery. Several entries combine a bold treatment with traditional architecture or furnishings.

Does the article show that these ideas make an entry feel bigger?

No. The source describes the designs but does not measure perceived spaciousness or compare results. Its focus is on visual character and the relationship between an entry and the rest of a home.

Which example uses a ceiling treatment?

Designer Marea Clark used striped wallpaper on the entry ceiling of a 1906 Craftsman in San Francisco, describing it as a way to add “a bit of whimsy.”

When was the roundup published?

The supplied source material does not state a publication date, so the timing cannot be confirmed from it.

Source: veranda.com

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